RWBY Prior
by The Communist Party of Vale
Summary: Hello and welcome to my story that barely qulifies as a Fanfiction! Story follows team VILE, a team with more than it's fair share of nutcases, as they settle into their new life at shade academy. Soon enough, things get about as crazy as they do, with conspiracies, creepy children, and a lot of grimm. This story contains, as of right now, a completly OC cast, but that may change
1. Notes (Read First)

Hi. Before reading this story, I recommend you take the time to read these short little notes on the natrure of this story. Mainly, this is for me, so I can get the feedback I need, but it's also just a breif clarification of what people will see in this story.

The first thing I should note is that this is the first story that I have ever written. It's not like I'm a compelte novice or anything, I've written several stories and essays in the past, but this is the first story I have (or hope to) written to compeltion. Thus, there may be some "rookie mistakes", and I would apprecaite feedback in that regard.

Secondly, as regarding to the nature of the story, I should warn it's less of a fanfiction and more of a seprate story set in the same world. As i said, it is set on remmnant, (the world of RWBY), and follows the same rules. However this story, as of right now, Consists of and enterily OC cast. You will also learn I decided to have the story set in the kingdom of Vacuo. I specificlly chose Vacuo because A) deserts are cool, and B) we know next to nothing about vacuo, so I get to make up my own stuff. Also, just for refrence, the story takes place about 5 years prior to the events of RWBY. Hence the name.

And I almost forgot. There will be a lot of changing perspectives in this, signifyed by a Horizontal line, like this

* * *

See?

Also, in chapter 1, the word P.H.D always seems to change to P. so, tell me if that happens.

Furthermore, I'm still figuring out how to make this more readable, so bear with me as I screw around. (for example, I found the horizontal lines are not very helpful in the actual thing because of a fade effect. I may need to change that)

Also is chapter 3 broken? because nobody seems to have veiwed it yet.

Or is chapter two really, _really_ bad.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"Two P. and you're going away to school again." Violet's dad spoke in an exasperated tone, but their was a touch of pride to the words.

"Maybe so, but I won't be learning science this time." Violet responded, not looking up from her computer.

"A chemist, engineer, and soon to be huntress. Couldn't you just help people by curing a deadly disease or something?" asked her father. He glanced one more time at the letter open on the table. It confirmed Violet's acceptance into Shade Academy.

Violet looked up from her computer this time. "If I did that, you'd lose your job." She smiled at her own joke, despite the fact it showed her fangs. Violet didn't mind, considering her purple reptilian eyes confirmed she was a faunus. Her father chuckled lightly.

"Someone has to do it when I die," He reminded Violet.

Violet raised her eyebrows maybe a centimeter. "Let's hope that doesn't happen anytime soon. Anyway don't be so morbid." She cautioned. Then her headphones changed to a song she wasn't really in the mood to hear. She raised her hand to the side and in a few quick movements the song was a happier one. Violet's headphones were unique. She had designed and built them herself, at huge expense. They had smart padding that instantly registered pressure to activate automatically, as well as making them impossible to remove forcibly. They had Violet's library of over 400,000 songs downloaded into the hardware, so no need to connect to a device. They could do that too. They could play music at a volume that only 3 other machines in the world could match, with no deterioration to sound quality. They even had 4 inch thick armor plating, and were resistant to all chemical hazards. And just for flair, they had holographic displays instead of buttons. Violet couldn't live without them. Literally. Her adjustment of music also brought her father to think about the headphones.

"Sorry again" He said.

Violet sighed "You can't control where I was born. Besides, it makes me unique."

Violet was not born under normal circumstances. She came into the world at a private laboratory where she was exposed to a mystery concoction of chemicals. The result, as well as permanently dying her hair purple, was that she could use her semblance without energy or effort, but she couldn't stop using it and it was always at full power. That semblance was unfortunately ultrasensitive hearing, so the headphones were designed to blast music so that the volume of a footstep didn't almost kill her. Considering this, and the fact that she was a viper faunus, it could be said Poison ran in her veins. In fact, Violet was an accomplished chemist in the creation and usage of poison, as well as a technological savant.

"You'll never be able to take those off." Her father said, indicating the headphones.

"I thought ahead this time." Replied Violet, "when I was studying for my Engineering degree, I made a large donation to the academy on the condition they build a new laboratory with a special room which is an exact replica of the one I have here. It'll be complete when I get there."

"You're lucky we have so much money." Violet's dad commented. Indeed, Violet's family had an obscene amount of income, as it's members included the two best chemists in the kingdom and one of the best doctors. Money rolled in from military contracts, medical patients, universities, and other sources. Of course, much of the money was spent on the strange needs of the family, and since they lived in what was essentially a giant laboratory, with every inch of the house being made of steel and glass, with computer screens everywhere and hazmat suits lining every wall, one would have trouble discerning their economic status altogether.

"Too bad we can't buy people qualified to pack deadly poisons." Said Violet, as she went to do just that.

* * *

"You've been accepted, you know." commented the acolyte, applying an iron that was so hot it almost melted to the skin on Ivan's back.

"As to be expected" Replied Ivan. "Even in the event of catastrophic failure, the test was rigged so that I would still pass. We've planned this move for too long." As for the searing pain, that meant nothing to him. It was a warning his body was being damaged. Nothing more, nothing less. He suppressed the barest hint of a negative response that was all that showed in reaction now. Almost everyone where Ivan lived had perfected the skill of ignoring pain.

Ivan was a monk of the Order of the Unyielding. How he got there he was still shady about, but the order believed that the most effective warriors could be trained via conditioning to ignore pain, both mental and physical. The method of doing this was calculated infliction of such pain until it meant nothing to the monk. To some, this was "inhumane torture." To Ivan, it was "my morning routine." Ivan had volunteered for a project to make the order more powerful by making some members huntsmen.

"And what of Emma?" He asked, "Did she get accepted?"

The acolyte decided to try mental torture this time. "Your pet psycho will be going to Shade with you. No worries." He called Emma, the only resident of the monastery that wasn't a monk, Ivan's "pet" in order to irritate Ivan.  
"She isn't my pet." Ivan replied

"You're girlfriend then," Retorted the acolyte.

"Remind me to give you a _really_ nasty exercise session before I leave." Said Ivan. "You know I already have a girlfriend."

"You do?" The acolyte responded, genuinely surprised.

" Yes. Now leave me. I should check on Emma before I pack." Ivan requested. The acolyte sped off with new gossip for his friends, all of whom had just begun training.

Ivan went to Emma's quarters. It was unlocked. Emma was packing her distinctive armor made out of the armor plating of dead grimm. As always, Emma was wearing black chainmail and her midnight black Zweihander. Her pet Grimm, Shorthand was perched on her shoulder. The small Nevermore always freaked Ivan out, mainly because it was completely tame, attacking only who Emma ordered it to. The girl looked up from her suitcase and clapped her hands excitedly. "Guardian angel, did you hear? We got accepted. Now we can guard the children, maybe kill a few adults, and kill nasty things!" Emma always referred to Ivan as her guardian angel. Perhaps that was because he saved her after her parents tried to kill the poor girl. No wonder she was so messed up in the head.

"Indeed." Replied Ivan. "However, we will be in a much more populated area, so I'm afraid I must increase my no killing rule to everyone, rather than everyone at the monastery."

Emma replied sadly "OK." Then she brightened up. "But there will be more grimm to kill, so I can make up for it!"

"Good point." Said Ivan, who went to pack his things.

* * *

Lavender Rose was meditating. Or rather, he was trying to. In reality he was bubbling over with excitement so he couldn't actually focus. He had been accepted. In two weeks time he would leave the monastery for Shade academy. Who knew, he might somehow run into the sister he'd found out he had two years ago. Unlikely all things considered. In fact they would probably never meet each other, and she would probably never know of his existence. It didn't really matter, but Lavender identified this fact as the thing that pushed his focus to unstable levels.

"Why don't you just practice with dust?" Suggested the monk who had acted as Lavender's father since his real father died in a bar fight 15 years ago.

"You don't think I need focus for that?" Lavender replied cynically.

"You don't." Answered the monk.

And he was right. Unlike most monks, Lavender had been in the monastery training and meditating since age three. This was important because the monks, who refused to call themselves any sort of special name, had a monastery in a place so filled with dust, rare and common, people without sufficient control would die trying to get there, especially because the way up was defended by angry monks. They were masters of manipulating "Energy Propellant" as people called it. Lavender was a master among masters, despite the fact he was only 17 and most of the monks were 60. To prove this, he was covered in multicolored tattoos from head to toe, except for his face. These were not symbols of status. Each tattoo was actually millions of dust crystals injected under the skin. They were routinely charged with aura to maintain their power. His bright red cloak that was way too long because Lavender was way too tall was embroidered with purple dust thread. His snow white leather armor was similarly embroidered with multicolored multi purpose thread. He had a necklace with all types of dust crystals imaginable on it. Even the rarest types of dust were in his necklace. The necklace was dominated by the purest quality and largest lightning dust crystal ever recorded. Lightning was Lavender's favorite type of dust, so he decided to create a veritable lightning storm in his hands.

He held the energy current for several minutes. Then the monk opened his eyes.

"You should pack your things. It's a long way down from the mountain." he reminded Lavender

"Agreed." Said Lavender, and walked straight through the wall. His semblance was the ability to turn intangible at will, after all.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Violet was practicing. Or rather, she was performing tests on new chemicals and conveniently it meant she could practice. Like her headphones, Violet had designed and built her weaponry. Visually they were purple armored fingerless gloves with a small pulsating orange orb on the embedded in the palm, with similar pulsating orange rings on each finger. Both the front and back of the gloves had rings of tubes filled with poison in them, and using neurological implants, Violet could use the orange parts, called creation cores, to instantly create either throwable razor blades or claws that covered her entire fingers that were coated with any one of these toxins, which were interchangeable. Officially they were "Biohazardous Melee and Projectile based Combat Gloves", but Violet had affectionately called them Synthesis and Breakdown. At present she was hurling razor blades into practice dummies with deadly accuracy all coated with a new and experimental poison. A poison Violet never hoped to use in actuality. The poison, still unnamed, would cause pain receptor cells to replicate at an accelerated rate while causing both new and preexisting receptors to send signals of excruciating pain to the victim. In a few minutes, the poor soul would die because the brain would be unable to process all the pain and just shut down. It also defiled the body of the poisoned by turning them into a electric death trap. It was wholly and truly the worst weapon in existence. As Violet slashed through the last test dummy, which felt strangely like cutting cheese, she looked at the results on her scroll. Upsettingly, it was a complete success. Violet's father walked into the room and said "How much do you want to pack?" sounding as guilty and disturbed as Violet felt.

"Four small vials. Most secure case we have." Violet replied, gingerly removing the test vial and placing it in the nearby incinerator. Suddenly, her usual cheerfulness returned and Violet decided to change the subject. "Oh," she exclaimed. "I read about a experiment that suggests Grimm might use some form of mind to mind communication."

Her father was immediately interested. "What, like some sort of hive mind?" he asked.

"Bingo," answered Violet. "but without the central hivemind. It's more just a way of talking."

"How do they do it?" Violet's father wondered.

"The experiment didn't reveal _how_ , just that they _did_." Explained Violet. She was about to launch into more detailed explanations when a voice crackled over the intercom.

"Violet, everything has been packed and all the transports are ready. You should get going." the employee at the other end said.

"Right. See you in a year dad!" Violet called back as she walked out the lab.

As Violet stepped outside the house, she reflected how much she was going to miss it. All the labs and security measures gave the whole thing the feel of a secret headquarters in some sci-fi movie. This quite appealed to Violet, who enjoyed doing things in a flashy manner and generally showing off. The "countryside" of Vacuo could be considered the opposite, she reflected as she stepped into the transport which would take her to the airships that would bring her to Shade. Out here it was sand, sand, and occasionally a rock to add a little excitement. Violet absently switched her headphones to a desolate song that fit her mood.

* * *

Ivan looked around him at the small army of kids waiting to be transported to Shade Academy. According to all accounts, at this point in time most kids are worried about making friends. Not Ivan. He huddled deeper into his luggage and continued to work on updating Shade's security software. It's not like they had asked him to, but Ivan was a technical prodigy and was sure they wouldn't mind. At that moment Emma returned and sat down next to him. She reached for her weapon but Ivan stopped her.

"Please don't sharpen that while I'm using my computer." He reminded her. "The sparks could make it explode and I would be severely injured.

"But you said you didn't feel pain!" Emma protested, sounding a bit confused.

"Well my body still suffers damage so-"

"IVAN!" The shout came from a suitable distance away. As Ivan turned to look, he saw a orange haired girl with yellow highlights and a very dangerous looking rifle running towards him. His look of irritation turned to surprise. Miracle. He didn't know she would be here.

"Ivan! I had no idea you were going to this school! Y'know the Monks should change the policy about communication. I want to talk to my boyfriend sometimes!" Miracle said as she crashed into Ivan, pushing him against the bag to his back. Which happens to be filled with instruments for self inflicted pain.

"I can't help but notice you didn't ask how I've been." Ivan said, planting a kiss on Miracle's forehead.

"You know very well I don't care about that." Miracle replied cheerfully.

Ivan did know that. At age two, Miracle had been diagnosed as a sociopath, meaning she couldn't feel empathy. "That fact makes me question your definition of love." He told Miracle.

"We already went over that!" Miracle replied. "And it took several hours!"

"I was just trying to kill time!" Ivan said defensively.

"Anyway in one of your rare letters, you said something about new weapons?" Asked Miracle, also a technical prodigy.

"Ah, passion and depravity, my _Magna Opera_." replied Ivan lifting up his gauntlets, which had clawlike blades coming out of a circular motor. Using neurological implants, he commanded the chains attached to the blades to release, creating multiple chain whips on each hand. "The whole thing is motorized so that I can retract and extend different chains to varied lengths with my implants. The circular motor can create spinning wheels of death of different lengths as well. You may have already figured this out, but these are very useful for parkour."

"Well I'm working on something that will complement those perfectly." Miracle observed. "I think I'll give them to you as a present."

"That would be nice" Ivan agreed

"Speaking of projects, I finished _our_ Magnum Opus." Miracle suddenly exclaimed.

"Really?" Ivan replied. "You finally did it?" He asked, grinning with delight.

" _We_ finally did it," corrected Miracle. "And only broke… how many laws in the process?"

"Internationally," answered Ivan, "about 15 major and 134 minor laws were violated."

"Y'know, Atlas is really a patron of the sciences." Noted miracle, with just a touch of sarcasm.

"We hacked them, and stole their information" Ivan said dryly.

"Oh shut up, it's not stealing if you do something different with it." Miracle replied. " _They_ made a robotic entity with an extremely advanced code to serve as a personality and stuffed a person's soul into it. _We_ made a fully sentient AI without the soul stuffing part." "An AI who is actually here right now," Miracle added.

"Why have I not been introduced yet?" asked Ivan.

"She wanted to be left alone, but I think she's had enough time to solve math equations or whatever computers do for fun." Miracle answered. Turning her head, she shouted "SIERRA! GET OVER HERE!"

In response, a dark skinned, tall, rather pretty looking girl walked over, wearing clothes that were definitely… behind the times, with a long flowing dress and intricate patterns, that didn't exactly seem useful to fight in. Emma was eyeing her suspiciously, Ivan noticed, so he signaled her that the girl was not a threat.

"You called?" she asked miracle.

"Yes" Miracle told her. "Sierra, I would like you to meet someone."

"I assume it's the person who you are currently lying on top of." said the girl.

"Yep" miracle Agreed. "This is Ivan, my boyfriend and your…"

"Co-creator." "It's a honor to meet you sir," Sierra said to Ivan.

"Likewise," Ivan responded. "It's great to see you finished."

"Yeah, now Sierra, you were doing something for me. Get back to it." Miracle interrupted.

"I was?" asked Sierra.

"Yep"

"All I was doing was standing around. I recall being greeted by a large number of boys, but that's all." Sierra observed.

"All those boys have a crush on you, and that's a crush I hope to cash in later, so get back too it." Miracle told her.

As the AI ran off to do her creator's bidding, Ivan whispered in his girlfriend's ear. "You're a monster." Miracle smiled.

* * *

Lavender stepped off the ship, abstaining from the collective pause other students took before stepping onto the barren patch of land where they would wait to be transported to Shade. _Time enough for gaping when we actually see the place_ , he thought. Instead, he decided to survey the crowd, trying to gauge the general mood. People standing around talking to their friends who also got in, generally avoiding strangers. Standard nervous behavior. Of course, there were the outliers. A dark skinned girl being greeted by others but never initiating conversation, a purple haired girl who had some very expensive headphones messing with test tubes, a young couple pouring over a computer when the only available connection was password protected, and did that girl have a _pet grimm_?! Lavander was beyond disbelief at the last one, but his vision always wandered back to the purple haired girl. Lavender knew why. He had read about what having a crush felt like back in the monastery, but this was his first time having one.

Forcing himself to ignore the purple haired girl, he sat down and looked up at the massive rock structures not far beyond, in the midst of which hid Shade academy. The massive sandy valley below lied in the shadow the two giant cliffs that marked the region most people called The Dragon's Gallery. It was so named for the millions of sculptures carved out of the cliffs. All sorts of things clinged to the wall, from geometric patterns to religious scenes to simple faces. Every generation, sculptors would carve their own mark into the cliff, below the last generations. Even though the sculptures didn't even reach halfway down the gigantic cliffs, the artists who made many of the sculptures were lost to time. As his vision drifted upward, Lavender saw the immensely abstract art of old become hordes of stone grimm, extremely detailed replicas of the creatures that Lavender would soon be fighting, frozen in mid charge down the cliff. At the top of the cliffs were the other namesake of The Dragon's Gallery. Clinging to the summit of each side were massive stone dragons, bigger than Lavender, bigger than he'd ever seen anything. The one on the left was relaxed, regally presiding over the art below it. The left cliff was open to any artist who wanted to add a piece. The dragon on the right was captured in mid roar, wings spread, issuing a warning to those who would dare defy it. This dragon only selected the best treasures, as the right cliff was only open to the greatest artists of each generation.

Many people came to this gallery because it immortally captures the art styles of generations past, giving the residents of Vacuo a kind of detailed cultural history no other nation could match. For Lavender, however, the cliffs represented the advance of civilization. At the top of the cliff, we see humanity in it's earliest days, living in such fear of the Grimm they felt the need to immortalize them. As the grimm became less of a threat, humanities art became more… human, to the modern day carvings exploring our very subconscious and soul. All because of the hunters and huntresses, who to Lavender, took on the burden of fighting the grimm, dedicating their life to it, so that others could dedicate their life to other things.

Just as he was about to write this revelation down, he heard a massive noise. 3 large ships touched down, ready to take him and the other students to Shade. This time, Lavender shared the other kids excitement. Soon enough, he would be learning how to ensure that sculptures were added to The Dragon's Gallery, at least for this generation.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

 _For god's sake, why is the engine so_ _ **loud**_? Violet thought as she stepped onto the ship. The legions of excited kids didn't help, screaming and laughing about everything. Raising the volume to compensate, she found a seat at the very back and took it. The engines might be louder, but at least people wouldn't try to _talk_ to her. That would be even worse.

Violet got extremely irritable when nervous.

She checked out the window for the millionth time, making sure that the ship carrying all her chemicals and other supplies had not been raided, or had crashed, or what have you. Satisfying herself that it was safe, she closed her eyes and sat there, listening to her music. In her mind's eye, each instrument and sound was a chemical, mixing with others to create explosions, new chemicals, or just peacefully mixing. In particularly instrument rich songs, this mental scene could be quite beautiful. For a long time she sat there, listening and imagining, until she eventually fell asleep.

"You seem to like music a lot. Do you play an instrument?"

Violet cracked open her eyes, to see who had woken her up. To her surprise, there was a girl who she hadn't seen before sitting next to her. The girl had deep blue eyes, and short black hair that seemed wet for some reason. Strange, considering where they were. She was wearing a armored black jumpsuit with red neon lines carving out a leaflike pattern. All of this was noticed offhand. Violet's attention was mainly focused on the fact that the girl had woken her up, and she was quite pissed about that.

"No." she responded irritably, and closed her eyes, trying to fall back asleep. To her surprise, the girl didn't seem to get the message.

"Oh "I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were asleep." The girl said apologetically.

"My eyes were closed." responded Violet without opening her eyes. "That should be indication enough."

"I guess I assumed too much." explained the girl. "You see, judging from your extremely expensive looking headphones, you're a music lover. Such people oftentimes will outwardly appear to be asleep, but are actually awake, just listening to music. Your breathing pattern suggested you were anxious about something, and anxious people don't usually allow themselves to fall asleep. When you breathing became regular I assumed the music had calmed you down and it would be safe to talk."

"You're very observant," noted Violet, who had now opened her eyes. The strange girl had piqued her curiosity.

"Yeah, well I figured that people communicate with body language much more here than in Atlas, so I took to learning how to read body language and I took it a bit too far." The girl answered, slightly embarrassed.

"You can say that again. I'm Violet, by the way." Violet said, who outstretched her hand.

The girl took her outstretched hand and shook it firmly. "I'm Rain." she told Violet.

"That's such a pretty name!" Violet exclaimed. The Atlesian girl smiled a bit.

"Well in my country people say you get so little Rain here you worship it…" She began, but Violet stopped her.

"Stop." Violet interrupted. "Don't tell me you're some kind of racist."

"What? No!" Rain said defensively. "I was just trying to make humor!"

Violet chuckled a bit. "You do realize nobody says "make humour", right? Unless that's something you say in Atlas."

"Well I used to say it when I was a kid and-" Rain was going to continue, but the ship suddenly stopped.

"Looks like we're here," Violet observed.

* * *

Ivan waited excitedly to exit the ship with Emma. Above the swarm of students waiting to get out, Ivan could see Shade Academy. Or rather, since Shade was mostly built into the rock face of the massive cliff at the end of the dragon's gallery, he saw the assorted balconies and doors that poked out. Ivan was used to living in massive cave systems, but no doubt many other students would find it cramped after too long. With a start, he realized he was already outside, and that Miracle had gone off without him, to get settled in and figure out what was going on.

"Come on," he told Emma, and went through the open doors, following the signs to the auditorium.

The auditorium was extremely large. A natural cavern that could fit a mansion in it, Ivan estimated. Statues of every kind were around the room, even the seats being so artistically carved they could be called statues. Vacuo had a strange fixation on statues, Ivan realized. When he related this thought to Emma, she took a couple seconds to process it before responding with a simple "if you say so." Further observations were cut off by a young man in a green T-shirt and blue jeans running up the stage to a microphone. That, guessed Ivan, would be the headmaster, although from his mode of dress it very well be a troublesome student.

"Hi, Hi. Sorry I took so long." Said the man, with a huge smile on his face "I was helping oversee the movement of some very dangerous chemicals to our new lab. A lab provided courtesy of one of the students here, who actually owns the chemicals." As the man talked, Ivan immediately felt a liking towards him. "As you may have guessed," continued the man, "I am the headmaster here. My name is Citron Green, but please, call me Citron, because Mr. Green sounds like the name of a teacher from a kids show" The audience laughed. "Now I'm supposed to talk to you all about how Shade is an ancient school steeped in tradition and that you will be upholding that tradition and whatnot but you all learned that at the open house. It takes a strong mind to fight grimm, and you all have your own motivations for doing so. Nothing we say will change those motivations." Green's tone turned somber for a couple seconds. "Now!" he said, his former casual attitude returned "Initiation is tomorrow! You'll be sleeping in the third room to the left. That's actually what it's called. There's a sign above the door that says 'third room to the left'. Also it's not actually the third room to the left. Now it's late, carrying lead lined boxes is hard, I'm tired, goodnight!" The headmaster ran off, leaving everybody stunned as they walked out of the room. Even Emma looked surprised Ivan noted, as he went off to his temporary quarters.

* * *

Violet had decided she liked Citron, after a little bit of thought. She never thought of him as "Mr. Green." Not because he asked people to call him Citron, but because he was so… casual. "Mr. Green" was just such unfittingly boring name. She reflected on this as she walked up the staircase to where initiation was. When she went outside, emerging from a hatch and onto the top of the cliff, she was told to stand on a strange platform on the edge overlooking The Dragon's Gallery. Wondering what initiation was, she looked around her. To her right was a boy with tattered robes and strange looking gauntlets, which looked decidedly high tech. To her left was a very pretty blond girl who's weapons looked like oversized versions those useless pistols rich ladies carried around for self defense. These looked dangerous though. Violet was about to start conversation when Citron came running up in front of her.

"Normally, I don't like traditions," Citron began, "but this one is actually practiced across all academies, and besides, it's fun! Fun for me, not for you. You're going to hate it." Violet got a little worried at that last note.

"Basically, we're going to launch you off this cliff down into the valley below. Without any sort of parachute. Find your own way to land safely. After that, the first person you make eye contact with will be your teammate for the duration of your time here. Yes, teams are made of four people. We put two teams of two together, based on who we think will work well together. The eye contact thing is just a tradition we have to follow. It's a stupid one, but we do have to follow it." Some kids were worried about that last development. The Boy to Violets right whispered to the girl next to him. Violet wasn't worried. She got along with people, generally. But Citron wasn't done talking.

"After you've had the most important staring contest of your life, you're going to find some artifacts. The Dragon's Gallery is a big place, so i'll give you a hint. They should be in the first cave on the right cliff. Unless you're _really_ light. Then maybe not. I would tell you to kill all grimm in your path, but that's what you're here to do."

As student's started launching one by one, Violet reviewed her options. She could grab onto one of the statues, but that would require air maneuverability she didn't quite have. She could use her claws to dig into the rock face and slow her fall, but that might land her too far away and make it more difficult. As for chemical uses…

Violet was so engrossed in her own calculations that she didn't realize the girl next to her had already been launched. The platform below her made a clicking sound, and Violet had almost no time to brace herself before she was launched up into the air, with a beautiful view of the sand below as she plummeted towards it.

* * *

Lavender watched the children falling all around him. Some were screaming, some were laughing, and some just silently plummeted. Some turned midair to look at Lavender, who was floating there, kept aloft by a massive updraft of wind that he had created. Stretching, Lavender took a look around, trying to find the cave from up here. He couldn't. Spotting a nice, empty spot, he gently lowered himself into the ground and almost gasped. When you're looking at it from far away or flying through it, it was so easy to forget how big the Dragon's Gallery was. He could barely see the right cliff, and the left had disappeared from view entirely. Taking this fact into consideration, Lavender decided to meditate and get his bearings.

He had been doing this for a good 10 minutes, formulating a mental image of his surroundings from his memories of what he saw while hovering, when his concentration was broken by a unfamiliar voice.

"Meditating? In the middle of the desert? That seems decidedly unsafe." The voice was mocking, in a friendly sort of way, emanating with freely given warmth. It was the voice of someone who had intentionally devoid themselves from every care in the world, yet who cared for the world. Upon opening his eyes, he saw the purple haired girl from earlier, hand outstretched. She was clad in purple leather armor over a layer of black material that looked like chainmal exept eachlink was a hexagon that was solid. After a moment, she spoke again.

"Hi," she said, "I'm Violet."

Lavender took her hand, which was clothed in some strange form of gauntlet or…

something, and introduced himself.

"Lavender Rose. Pleased to make your acquaintance." he told her.

"So polite," she replied, "I met a girl on the ship from Atlas, are you like her brother or something?" she grinned at her own joke.

Lavender laughed wholeheartedly. There was something about this girl that made you feel safe, feel like letting down your guard. "No. I was raised in a monastery." he told her.

"Ohhhhh" Violet exclaimed. "That might also explain the cloak. That is a really nice cloak by the way. Although I doubt it would fit me."

Now that she mentioned it, Lavender was much taller than Violet, He shruged, seeing as he was much taller than most people.

"So… shall we be off?" he asked Violet, but before she could answer they both heard a loud sound, somewhere between a rumble and a screech, as if a train was being derailed next to a erupting volcano. They both knew that sound.

"Grimm mass" muttered Violet.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Grimm masses, were, as far as Violet knew, something unique to Vacuo. Everyone in vacuo experience one or two in their lives, and that was enough to traumatize a person. Most grimm traveled in packs, but in a Grimm mass, the creatures formed such big, tightly packed groups they seemed a black mass, even from up close. There were so many grimm, they would end up killing each other to get to a human sometimes, which is the only thing that makes A grimm mas had an uncountable number of beowolves and creeps. Sometimes there were ursa, and there was a very big ursa leading the mass charging at Violet, huge and unstoppable. Communicating with Lavender above the noise would be difficult, and Violet needed the energy. Bracing herself, Violet leaped into the air a second before the grimm mass was upon her, diving forward. She only half registered the fact that Lavender was floating above the swarming black sea, and that his purple tattoos seemed to be glowing, focusing wholly on her own survival.

She hit the ground, or rather grimm, spinning with her claws out. Her Poison drenched hands dug deep into the grimms back, killing it instantly, and knocking over the grimm in front of it like a domino effect. Violet tossed razor blades dipped in paralysis poison at the temporarily immobilized grimm, while simultaneously slashing the throat of the grimm leaping at her from behind. Suddenly a beowulf appeared to the left of her, and she didn't have time to respond to this new threat before a streak of lighting just barely missed her, killing the grimm. Glancing towards the lightnings source, she saw Lavender hurling not only lightning bolts, but streams of fire and ice at the grimm, as well as smashing them with rock structures coming out of nowhere. Violet hadn't realized he was a dust user.

Just then a very large beowulf leaped on Violet, overtaking her. It knocked her to the ground, littered with corpses, and began to snap at the grimm around it that wanted a piece. With a jolt of fear, Violet realized her arms and legs were pinned. The second the creature decided to attack, it was over. _Well, there is one option,_ she realized. Violet reached up with her neck, opened her mouth, and bit.

The grimm's neck tasted terrible, but Violet felt a surge of animal satisfaction as her fangs sank into it's flesh. Injecting the poison she naturally produced, Violet held on until she felt the grimm's hold weaken. Then, tearing off a piece of flesh and spitting it out, Violet got up, turned around and slashed the grimm's neck open with one fluid motion, charging headfirst in the horde that surrounded her. Hacking slashing, throwing, biting, and doing everything else she could think of to the endless black sea, she realized she wasn't making any progress. Using a highly explosive chemical, she blew up a large area of grimm around her giving her time to shout up to Lavender.

"Hey Lavender!" She yelled, satisfied that he turned to listen, "can you freeze a bunch of grimm in a line leading to that big ursa? Make it a wide one"

In response, lavender simply did as she asked, although it seemed to take a lot out of him, judging by the expression on his face. Violet also noted his blue tattoos glowed when he used ice dust. She'd have to ask him about that later. Focusing her attention on the line of frozen grimm in front of her, violet conjured up a razor blade and threw it, careful that it didn't hit any grim. Yet.

The chemical Violet coated the razor blade with was a interesting one. Of violets own design, it would explode in a thermokinetic explosion, burning or crushing anything in a nearly invisible wave of heat. It performed admirably, destroying all but a few outer lines of grimm, which formed a wall so their comrades didn't attack violet. Seeing her intentions, lavender raised a ice wall as well, to add maximum security.

Now all that was left was to kill that giant ursa.

 _Giant_ didn't even begin to describe that thing, Violet thought. That creature was _gigantic_. Not like it dwarfed her or anything, but Violet was pretty sure that it could simply crush her with a sweep of it's arm, no claws required. Also, that thing had some armor. It was more white than black, and it seemed to have multiple layers at some point. Violet shifted into a combat stance and generated some blades. Time to test a few things.

Violet hurled the blades at the grimm, but they bounced off harmlessly. It didn't even seem to notice, it's eyes still focused on Lavender, hovering safely away. This fact hurt Violets pride a little, so she decided to forgo some other tests and try to get through that armor _. Let's see how you hold up against 1 pH, bastard_ , she thought as she hurled some more blades straight into it's leg plates. These blades were covered with with a acid, with 1 pH acidity. For the scientifically challenged, that means very, _very_ , acidic. The razor went right into the armored plate, and through it.

Well, almost through it.

The blade stopped about three fourths the way through, eating away some of the surrounding area. Violet gasped. That was the strongest acid she had. Could anything pierce that armor? The worst part was, Violet now had that grimm's attention. It turned it's head at Violet, and charged, it's footsteps sending tremors that threatened to break the ice wall separating it and violet from the rest of the horde. Lavender was trying to help, Violet noticed, as she lept aside. He was hurling all kinds of energy at the thing, but to no avail. Vainly, violet tried cutting one of it's few unprotected spots with poisoned claws, but she just couldn't get a strong enough dose to hurt something that large. Thinking that the acid seemed to work the best, and maybe she just needed more persevering blades, she created some claws and went to work. Digging the claws deep in the grimms body, she made her way behind it in what would be the most painful acrobatics performance of all time, if not for all that goddamn armor. She managed to damage it somewhat, but she realized she would run out of stamina and faint before she even began to really make a dent in that thing. It did piss it off, however, and the ursa pinned violet to a wall, blocking any sort of escape. This time, violet couldn't simply bite it to survive. This was the end. She was going to die. To some really bad luck. Tears coming to her eyes, she saw the ursa lift up it's head…

And stop.

It took Violet a minute to see the many chains wrapping around the ursas neck, holding it there. Green blades at the end hooked in place, and an instant later she saw the boy who was standing next to her on the launch pads surmount to the top of the ursa, strangling it's unprotected neck. The grimm reached up and made deep gouges in the boy's arms, but he didn't even flinch. Almost immediately after, another girl entered the scene, whose armor looked to be made of grimm's armor plating. Knowing that was impossible, violet assumed it was a stylistic choice. She purposefully walked to part of the ice wall and destroyed it. Violet was shocked that grimm didn't immediately flood past, instead uncertainly milling about for a second. Then the girl raised her hand to eye level with the grimm and Violet's surprise grew. A strange invisible wave emanated from the girl's hand, making several of the grimm's eyes turned pitch black. The only reason Violet knew the wave was there, was that her brain thought there was one there, and it also thought the wave was black, even though Violet saw nothing. Then the girl stepped aside and the black eyed grimm rushed straight at the ursa in a mad rush.

The grimm were attacking the ursa.

Violet physically took a step back at this revelation, not helping as the ursa fell to the ground dead. With a start she realized that grimm were pouring through the hole the girl created, and she stepped forward to stop them. Her newfound friends nodded at her, and she decided to assume command.

"Keep a constant choke point here," she told them, "my friend and I will give you some breathing room."

The boy waved his hand to show he understood, and the girl simply giggled. Slamming her midinght black Zweihander on the ground, it shattered into a million floating pieces the girl seemed able to control, the razor sharp fragments swirling around her in blatant defiance of all logic. Violet took a deep breath

Time to get to work.


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Ivan lay on his back, staring at the painfully blue sky as dissipating grimm bodies rose up around him. Grimm masses always took a lot out of him, no matter how small, and this was a large grimm mass. Pushing himself to a more upright position, he saw his companions in similar states of exhaustion, excluding Emma, who sat there giggling as she watched grimm bodies disappear. Not for the first time, Ivan wondered how exactly Emma got to be this way. From what he knew, she was a member of one of the most influential families in Vacuo. Or at least, she was. Ivan wasn't so sure now.

Ivan looked at his mauled arms, careful not to let them touch the sand to avoid infection. His aura was helping to close them up, but there were going to be scars for sure. Ivan shrugged. His arms, chest, legs, and everywhere else were already a mass of scars, some gotten from battle, others self inflicted. It was a miracle Ivan still had both eyes intact. He wasn't the only one to notice the scars. The viper faunus, Violet, she said her name was, called out to him.

"How'd you get all those scars?" she asked.

In response, Ivan took out several rings with hooked blades on them, fitted them to his fingers, and slashed himself across the chest. Not deep enough to scar, but blood burst out nevertheless, pumping out with every heartbeat. Ivan let himself bleed for about 30 seconds before closing up the wounds with aura.

"Oh", Violet exclaimed, shock written on every inch of her face. "That's gotta hurt."

"My guardian angel doesn't feel pain!" Emma chimed in, sharpening her sword.

"Not quite" Ivan corrected her. "I still feel pain, I just don't have a negative response to it."

"What's with the 'guardian angel' thing?" The tattooed boy, Lavender interjected, directing the question at Emma.

Ivan answered for her "Emma's just a little crazy. I don't understand her half the time." he told Lavender.

"Never mind that, what's with the tiny nevermore?" Violet said, a note of exasperation in her tone, "Like seriously that thing has been creeping me out.

"What's creepy about Shorthand?" Emma replied "He's very nice, and he kills people when I ask. He kills grimm too."

"The thing is, he should be attacking everyone," Violet explained, "Grimm have been murdering humans since, well, ever."

"Perfect description." Lavender commented "I definitely know exactly what time period 'ever' is."

"Shut up Lavender. Come up with better, I dare you."

Ivan laughed along with Emma this time. "You just can't stay on the same topic for two seconds, can you?" He asked the two

"Nope!" Violet replied cheerfully.

"We totally can." Lavender said simultaneously. They looked at each other for half a second before joining in the general chorus of laughter.

"Right!" Violet suddenly said, "Now that we've gotten our giggles out, let's figure out where we're going. "Ivan go use your grapple-chain whatevers and scout the area for the cave were looking for. Lav, you"

"Why are you calling me Lav?" Lavender asked, sounding a little angry.

"Because saying Lavender makes me sound like I'm in a goddam soap opera." Violet answered with her usual dry humor. "Why? Do you not like being called that?"

"No, no, it's fine." lavender hurriedly assured her.

"Okay then," Violet continued, "Lav, you also go scouting in the other direction using your magic wind dust powers. I'm guessing Emma's going to follow Ivan everywhere so I'll be here as a rondevu."

"I can tell Emma to stay here…" Ivan offered

"No, I'm afraid you don't understand." Violet said, cutting him off. "I'm letting Emma go with you because she scares the ever living bug juice out of me."

"Why bug juice?" Ivan wondered.

"Because I have some weird allergy to bug juice that makes it taste really good. And turns my veins neon pink for a few days. It's really disturbing and uncomfortable." Violet responded rapidly. Ivan just looked at her like she was some sort of alien.

"Who creeps out who aside," Lavender said, almost oblivious to the awkward silence he had broken, "I think Emma should stay here while Violet goes with Ivan. Violet herself pointed out Emma is the best one of our group at holding down a single position, but is a little bit deficient in all other areas."

"What does deficient mean?" Emma asked, sounding like a small child who still hasn't fully developed a working vocabulary.

Lavender was about to define the word for Emma, but Ivan quickly interrupted. "Don't bother explaining things to her." He told him. "She'll forget in about 5 minutes."

"What's with Emma anyway?" Violet asked, "Why is she so messed up?"

"Like hell if I know." Ivan replied. "Now we should get moving. Emma, you stay here. Do not move at all." Seeing Emma nod, he motioned to Violet who started walking with him. Lavender couldn't resist one parting comment however.

"I swear to god, we keep getting collectively weirder by the second." He observed before rocketing off on a huge gust of wind.

* * *

Sometimes Violet wondered why she was still able to enjoy music. A kid in her old school brought the problem to her attention by pointing out that if you do something all the time, it would eventually become such a part of life that it would no longer be enjoyable. The problem had plagued Violet for about a week. The concept sounded correct, and by the logic Violet should have gotten sick of music a while ago. She eventually satisfied herself with the answer that the sheer variety of music meant it never got old. For some reason, that had prompted Violet to create a chart of the type of music she was currently listening to the most. Recently, she had entered a new phase, exhibiting a preference for electronic music. As she walked through the Dragon's gallery, she reflected that she was pretty lucky that her semblance allowed for nonstop music, instead of, say, non stop eating or something. She turned up the volume on her headphones and smiled.

"Would you please stop that?" Ivan suddenly asked, bringing Violet out of her walking trance.

"What am I doing?" she said in reply, more than a little bit confused.

"You're waving your hands around like a crazy person. It's really getting on my nerves."

Violet realized that she had been unconsciously moving her hands to the music, as if playing an invisible keyboard. She was also raising and lowering her hands with the volume.

"What, are you embarrassed because I look crazy?" She asked Ivan, a hint of laughter creeping into her voice.

"Yes." Ivan replied irritably, as if that should be obvious.

Violet couldn't help it. She burst into uncontrollable laughter. It wasn't even funny, but Violet was giddy from adrenaline and thus found it much funnier. Ivan didn't seem to get it.

"What's so funny?" He asked, looking at violet as she rolled in the sand laughing.

After laughing for a good 30 seconds, Violet got up, still gasping for air. "First off," she began, "People do that when they listen to music. It's perfectly normal. Second, nobody's around to see us, and third, says the guy who tortures himself. You are in no position to judge crazy." Suddenly Violet cracked up again, but didn't do it for very long, as she was surprised out of it.

"I wouldn't say nobody's around." Said a person who had suddenly materialized out of thin air, in strikingly familiar armor. Suddenly the faceless helmet melted into the armor, and Violet realized who it was.

"Rain!" She exclaimed, "Don't do… whatever you did." "ever." She added, just to make sure.

"Sorry," Rain said, with her usual shyness. "My semblance is to turn invisible."

"Thank god you're not a stalker." Violet shot at Rain, with blatant disregard to the girls awkwardness. Rain just giggled a bit, so Violet decided to move the conversation. "So have you partnered up yet?" She inquired.

"Yes," Rain answered. "My partner is a bit weird to say the least."

"Really?" Violet joked, "I was convinced I had found the four weirdest kids at the school, including me. Stick with us and you'll meet them. But mind introducing us to this mysterious eccentric?"

"Umm…. I'll just let her introduce herself. Sierra, could you come over here please?"

"Oh hello Ivan" Said the girl who a second before was a normal rock formation. Violet turned to her companion

"You know this girl?" she asked him. "And was she a bunch of rocks a second ago?"

"Yes and yes." Ivan replied. "This is Seirra, a fully sentient artificial intelligence I developed with my girlfriend." "We used a artisan model robot for the body, so she uses hologram projectors and other things to look like whatever she wants."

Violet nearly fainted. The fact that a sentient AI, here, at this school was shocking. The fact that Ivan had developed it was breathtaking, yet for some reason, there was a fact in that sentence more amazing than the previous two. Something that seemed to break the laws of the universe.

"You have a girlfriend?" She asked Ivan, disbelief apparent in every syllable.

"Yes." He replied calmly.

"You, the self torturing psychopath who doesn't feel pain and has a potential serial killer as a bodyguard, have a girlfriend." Violet's words were directed at Ivan, but they were really meant to convince herself.

"Well she's a sociopath." Ivan admitted.

That made a bit more sense, Violet thought. Then she fully registered what he said and her confusion only rocketed to new levels. "I'm pretty sure having a sociopath for a girlfriend isn't exactly a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship." She told Ivan. "It's more of a boyfriend-manipulator relationship which turns into a victim-murderer relationship."

"Y'know, I asked Miracle about that." Sierra interjected. "As for her answer, I can only say that I am extremely glad for the fact I can't get headaches."

"You and me both" Ivan replied knowingly.

"Well you know what, I can get headaches." Violet said agitatedly. "In fact, I have one right now. So if everyone could just stop talking about what crazy people think romance is and start looking for this cave, that would be great."

"Couldn't have said it better myself." Rain told Violet.

"Good. then let's get moving." Violet said, and everyone complied, without another word. Of course, that would probably only last for another 30 seconds, Violet predicted.


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Lavender thought he liked being alone, but the endless expanse of the desert gave "alone" a whole new meaning. Even in this valley named for the generations of art it contained, the world felt uniform as uninteresting, as if covered by a sepia filter. No wonder Vacuo was barely considered a kingdom. It's strongholds were far fetched, with no central city. The only reason that part of the continent was mostly grimm free was the toughness and strange talents of the people who lived there. The issue of a central city was one that had plagued the national pride of the residents of the kingdom for qutie some time. Almost once a year, a project to create such a city was created, and once a year it failed, either due to insignificant funding or the reluctance of people to move. Finding this line of thought intriguing, Lavender decided to open up a new section in his book.

This book was a journal containing Lavenders collected philosophical musings and ideas, simply to give lavender a nice point to start off when he was bored and wanted to think. If i'm being honest though, the term "book" is sort of a misnomer. Lavenders complete thoughts were recorded over a series of 30 and counting small journals, the most recent of which was pocket sized, unmarked brown journal with a red floral pattern on the edges. As he wrote these most recent revelations down, he was startled by a voice. Right behind him.

"So am I looking at a author or a poet?" He heard. The voice was undeniably female, and laced with a sort of touch of every personality, as a psychologist would do when meeting a patient for the first time and is unsure which tone to strike. Yet something about the voice made Lavender want to trust it.

"A Philosopher." He replied politely, turning to see the owner of the voice. She was a small woman, with long curly blond hair and unsettlingly bright green eyes. She was wearing a bright orange victorian era dress, with similarly styled weapons. They looked very similar to muff flintlock pistols, but they were unusually large, as well as distinctly modern-looking. Beside her was another girl, with orange hair, a dead look in her eyes, and a very nasty looking marksman's rifle. Suddenly, the orange haired girl turned to the blonde one, smiling evilly.

"Well Peach, I can certainly see why you deserve to brag about your people reading skills so much. One look at him writing in a book and you figured out he's either a poet or writer, and he's a philosopher. Peach Campell, people reader extraordinaire." She mocked relentlessly. Seeing the other girl, peach, draw her breath for a probably angry reply, Lavender hurriedly changed the subject.

"Didn't I see you with Ivan earlier?" he asked the orange haired girl, remembering seeing the two huddled over a computer before headed to Shade.

"You know Ivan?" the girl answered, surprised.

"He helped me and my partner fight off a grimm mass."

"Oh. I'm his girlfriend Miracle." She told him. Lavender decided not to comment on the ridiculousness of the statement.

"I'm Lavender." He instead told the girl.

"Pretty name," the other girl, Peach, responded. Although a bit… flowery. Get it? Flowery? Cause a Lavenders a flow-"

"We get it." Miracle interrupted. "Also, if you make another bad pun, I will kill you." Lavender wasn't sure if she was serious or not, considering that Miracles tone of voice and face seemed deadly serious.

"Just my luck I get paired up with a sociopath." Peach muttered in response.

"She's not joking. I am a sociopath." Miracle clarified.

"Physiological conditions aside," Lavender replied, as he didn't like talking about mental illness and prefered to change the subject. "I don't suppose you two have found the cave we're looking for."

"We were looking for a cave?" Peach asked.

"Yeah, why?" Miracle answered.

"Because we passed one a while back." Peach told her.

"Why didn't you tell me!?" Miracle exclaimed.

"I didn't think it was important."

"Weren't you paying attention when Citron explained this?"

"I was texting my friends. "At this point. Lavender decided to intervene.

"Peach, why don't you just lead us back to the cave?" he said.

"Good idea." Miracle agreed. "Also, you should text your friends were going over there and to meet up at this location.

"But I don't have internet-" Lavender began.

"You do now" Miracle responded.

Confused, lavender looked down at his scroll. Indeed, there was a very strong connection to the internet, and it was holding.

"How did you do that?" he asked.

"How law abiding are you?" Miracle responded. Lavender decided he didn't want to know that bad and just messaged Violet, whose number he didn't recall asking her for, nor her his.


	8. More notes (skippable)

Hi guys, more notes about the story, for the literally TWO people who MAYBE care.

So Because I'm a lazy shit I write really fucking slowly.

And stuff comes out not the best.

I constantly endavor update shit as a result

So every once and a while it's worth going back a few chapters.

I'll try to get a new chapter out shortly.

Thanks.

-The communist party of Vale.


	9. Chapter 7

"No, there's no such thing as a drug that let you control people's minds." Violet told Peach irritably. The girl had a bottomless supply of stupid questions, it seemed. "Where do you even hear this stuff anyway?" She asked.

"Rumors" Peach responded. "I have a lot of friends who like to talk a lot."

"Well, rule one of learning things," Violet advised. "If it comes out of a living things mouth, there's a 56% chance it isn't true."

"Why?" Peach wondered.

"Because facts are oftentimes too boring for conversation." Violet said, turning up the volume on her headphones, and sighing happily as she blissfully ignored everyone and everything. Perhaps ironically, this meant she didn't hear or see Rain walk up to her and and manually turn down the volume. It took a good second or so before Violet actually realised what was happening and jerked away angrily.

"Hey, what gives?" She spat at Rain, but the other girl cut her off.

"Environmental awareness" Rain stated, as if that explained everything.

"Annnd what the fuck is that supposed to mean?" Violet said, more confused now than anything.

"It means that if you can't hear a grimm preparing to pounce on you, _you're_ not gonna be prepared and probably gonna die. This is basic tactical knowledge, by the way." Rain told violet .

"Riiiight." Violet replied. "I don't know what goes on in Atlas, but we have a standardized education that encompasses more than just military stuff."

"Education or not, she has a point." Ivan cut in, who had caught wind of the argument. "You should be able to hear what's going on around you." Violet groaned in exasperation.

"Well she could have just asked!" she exclaimed, followed by a "What?" when everybody looked at her like she was a idiot. When everyone started laughing, she facepalmed, realizing what she just said. "Can we just get moving?" She asked.

"For a chemist/engineer, you can be very oblivious sometimes." Lavender commented slyly as they set off again.

"Terrible pun Lav." Violet replied darkly, not even looking back.

"I'm sorry, what pun?" Miracle asked with a smirk. "I wasn't paying attention." Violet did turn towards the speaker this time, and was actually smiling.

"Hey, how did we even get into this discussion?" She asked.

"I dunno, I couldn't hear." Rain yelled from the back of the group, catching on. It continued like that for a while, with even Seirra, who never even talked unless spoken to, chiming in. Somewhat Ironically however, it was then the group ran into trouble. Being the one at the front end, Peach felt the anomaly fist.

"Hey guys?" she said uncertainly. "Does anyone else notice the ground rumbling?" Everyone had just enough time to slide into more defensive positions, or in Emma's case gasp happily, before the ground seemingly exploded from under them, sending them flying. Violet, after a brief moment of confusion, reoriented herself and when she did, gasped as well. But it was in no way a happy one. As she fell, she tried to process the grimm in front of her. It was a insect, that's for sure, but you could put the capital of Vacuo on that thing and it wouldn't even feel it. The top half this thing was entirely armored, and it's long, stick-like legs had plating near the knees. Also, by "stick-like", I mean it was about the width of a tree. Violet hit the ground with a little bit more shock to the legs than she would like, realizing that she had landed near Lavender, Emma, and Ivan. The other four had landed on the other side of the monster. Her eyes still glued to it, she asked the question on everyone's minds.

"What in the name of hell is that?" she yelled, and surprisingly, was actually answered.

"Chasam Nester!" Emma replied joyfully.

"Never heard of it." Lavender replied calmly. Violet, however, was still in full panic mode.

"More importantly, Never heard of how to KILL it!" She screamed. Apparently the thing had ears, because the second she did, it moved its massive head, looked at her, and began to slowly raise a leg. The legs, too, were awe inspiring, considering the size of the thing they carried. Violet, along with most everyone, was struck dumb as the appendage moved gradually towards them.

"For fucks sake, MOVE!" Ivan shouted, Jarring everyone back to reality. Violet barely had time to dive out of the way before the appendage struck the ground, creating a veritable sandstorm with the impact.

"Basically," Ivan explained between coughs, "We have to destabilize it, which shouldn't be hard considering the entire body structure is designed to support that thing and it just barely does."

"Take out its legs." Lavender simplified. Violet sighed with relief.

"Well they won't be hard to hit," she said confidently, creating a blade and preparing to throw it.

"By the way, those legs are solid muscle and bone." Ivan told her.

"So?!, This is ACID!" Violet responded, waving her blade in front of Ivan. "So it shouldn't-"

"Don't forget the babies!" Emma interjected happily.

"I'm sorry the what now?" Lavender asked.

"The swarm." Ivan clarified. Violet sighed. It seemed she wasn't the only oblivious one.

"Yeaahhhh still no idea what the fuck you're talking about." She explained, throwing the blade, expecting the fight to end quickly, only to be greatly disappointed. The Blade sheared through, but it had hit the lower part and didn't do much damage. The monster definitely noticed part of it's leg was missing, because it opened it's mouth to scream, or so violet thought. Rather than a howl of pain, what came out of the grimm's mouth were… more grimm? They were small, Violet noticed, but there were a lot of them, like a swarm of bees. Except scarier.

"Now do you have a idea what I'm talking about?" Ivan asked smugly.

"Yeah, pretty sure I do," Violet gasped as every single one of those insects turned straight towards her.


End file.
